Roger White
Artist: Jon Hughes
Label: Jon Hughes
Release Date: September 28, 2012
Release Date: September 28, 2012
Duration: 11 tracks, 55:24
This late review became a necessity after recently reviewing
Jon Hughes latest work, “Where I Sleep At Your Door”. Jon Hughes is an American
born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist living and performing in Cork,
Ireland since 2005. Melding folk and rock with eclectic poetry, unique
instrumentation and related phrasing Hughes’ art shines with in an alt-folk /
alt-rock style.
Roger White, his fourth Irish release and seventh overall, is
a conceptual album based on a social experiment. Hughes explains: “I chose the
name Roger White, googled it, and found the bio of a person named Roger White.
I read the bio front to back a few times and wrote the songs based around what
he had given me as the story of his life. I guess I kind of lived vicariously
through his experiences as I put them into song, and by the end of it, I felt
like I knew him. He even appeared in one of my dreams, which inspired the song
“This Lonely Town”.
The vision of a deep and forbidding experience, like a
coming storm dark with strong lines and powerful movement is found in “I’ll Be
Here”. Horns at the song’s completion add the right note to sustain the
feeling. “The Clown (Song for Robert Jones)” presents a faster pace to maintain
emotional momentum with layered vocals and wandering lead guitar. Both “Nelson’s
Ledge” and “Phone Calls to Nowhere” showcase Hughes’ ability to perfectly match
vocal movement to melody creating the musical experience. The latter a quiet
song tailor made for a walk through the woods, deep and refreshing with a
background of understated symbols and lead guitar accenting well.
“Temple Cone” offers something quicker and bouncy with well
placed breaks. While “Goose & Plane I and II” are eclectic and fun with a
Beatles-like movement. The slower, dramatic songs (“The Color of Your Heart,
“This Lonely Town”) capture the true picture of the musical experiment that is
Roger White.
Always searching, always creating, Hughes poetry and musical
composition mix well with his ability to reach into new and unique platforms to
develop his art
Scott S Mertens
4 tocks
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